IntraMuscular Stimulation - IMS

Dr. Chan Gunn, CM, OBC is the founder and president of the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Pain in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Dr. Gunn developed a process called Intramuscular Stimulation (IMS) to treat neuropathic pain. In 2001 Dr Gunn was inducted into the Order of British Columbia and in 2002 into the Order of Canada for his contributions in the field of pain study.^[1] He is a clinical professor at the University of Washington and has been invited to lecture internationally on his approaches to pain therapy. He is also the founding director and past president of the Canadian Society of Asian Art.

 IMS

Intramuscular Stimulation is the process of stimulating irritated nerves through shortened muscles with small acupuncture needles. Although shortened muscles are impossible to see in MRI or X-ray images, trained IMS practitioners are able to feel tense muscles and target irritated nerves.^[2] The process is somewhat controversial and regarded as a pseudoscience by some circles.

 

 

Introduction:
Many people who suffer from chronic pain become frustrated and depressed when their doctors cannot help.

Some try medications and physical therapies such as massage, physiotherapy, osteopathy and chiropractic- even surgery, and still do not find lasting relief.

The following document explains briefly how chronic pain can occur, even when there is no injury or inflammation, and it describes a scientifically proven method for diagnosing and treating it.

 

What is intramuscular stimulation (IMS)?
Intramuscular stimulation (IMS) is an effective treatment for chronic pain of neuropathic origin (see below).

IMS was developed by Dr.Chan Gunn while he was a clinic physician at the Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia. Dr.. Gunn, is currently a clinical professor and teaches IMS at the University of Washington's Multidisciplinary Pain Centre in Seattle and the University of British Columbia's Medical School. IMS is also taught and utilised at many centres around the world.

IMS is effective and has few side-effects; the technique is also unequalled for finding and diagnosing muscle shortening in deep muscles.

Although IMS uses implements adapted from traditional acupuncture, it is based on scientific, neurophysiological principles. The acupuncture needle used is very thin (much thinner than the hollow needle used to inject medicine or take blood samples). You may not even feel it penetrating the skin, and if your muscle is normal, the needle is painless.

However if your muscle is supersensitive and shortened, you'll feel a peculiar sensation - like a muscle cramp. This is a distinctive type of discomfort caused by the muscle grasping the needle. Patients soon learn to recognise and welcome this sensation. They call it a "good" or positive pain because it soon disappears and is followed by a wonderful feeling of relief and relaxation. The needle may still be in you, but because the muscle is no longer tight, you no longer feel it. What has happened is that the needling has caused your abnormal muscle shortening to intensify and then release. It is important that you experience this sensation in order to gain lasting relief.

 

Neuropathy - what happens when nerves start to go wrong...
Doctors usually have no difficulty in treating pain caused by injury (a fracture, for example) or inflammation (such as rheumatoid arthritis). They are perplexed however by pain that shows no sign of tissue damage or inflammation.

This type of pain, known as neuropathic pain, typically occurs when nerves malfunction following minor irritation. Nerves and nerve endings become extremely sensitive and cause innocent, harmless signals to be exaggerated and misinterpreted as painful ones.This characteristic is known medically as supersensitivity). The result is pain, even when extensive medical tests show there is "nothing wrong". Until recently, supersensitivity has received little attention in medical circles.

 

 

The effects of IMS
The effects of IMS are cumulative- needling stimulates a certain amount of healing, until eventually, the condition is healed and the pain disappears. Some patients treated with IMS have remained pain-free for over 20 years.

 

Frequency of treatments
Treatments are usually once a week (but can be spread out to two weeks) to allow time between treatments for the body to heal itself. The number of treatments you require will depend on several different factors such as the duration and extent of your condition, how much scar tissue ther is (this usually increases after surgery) and how quickly your body can heal. The rate of healing depends on the condition of your nerves(young people usually heal more quickly although his is not always the case). If the pain is of recent origin, one treatment may be all that is necessary. In published studies of patients with low back pain, the average number of treatments required was 8.2.

 

 

Treating neuropathic pain
Supersensitivity and muscle shortening cannot be operated on and "cut away". "Pain killers" and other analgesic pills only mask the pain. The goal of treatment is to release muscle shortening which presses on and irritates the nerve. Supersensitive areas can be desensitised and the persistent pull of shortened muscles released.

 

The shortened muscle syndrome
An important factor in neuropathic pain is muscle shortening, caused by muscle spasm and contractor. Muscle shortening produces pain by pulling on tendons, straining them as well as distressing the joints they move. Muscle shortening also increases wear and tear and contributes to degenerative changes such as tendonitis and osteoarthritis.

These conditions are customarily regarded as "local" conditions and may not receive the appropriate diagnosis or treatment.